Tech N9ne
Overview Aaron Dontez Yates, a.k.a. Tech N9ne, is an American rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, and entrepreneur from Kansas City, Missouri. He gained success with the release of his 2001 album "Anghellic", and has since been steady releasing music. In 2000, he founded record label Strange Music with KCMO businessman Travis O'Guin, and since then Tech has gained notoriety through songs like "Caribou Lou" (2006) and "Worldwide Choppers" (2011), the former of which was certified platinum in 2017. He is also known for as the creator of the Caribou Lou beverage, a mix of Bacardi 151, Malibu rum, and pineapple juice. Through an excessive amount of touring, a unique style, an unprecedented level of skill, and an outstanding level of finesse, Tech N9ne has left his mark on the landscape of hip hop and, as the years go by and more music comes forth and breaks charts, he has shown no sign of stopping or slowing any time soon. Biography Aaron Dontez Yates was born on November 8, 1971 in Kansas City to a family of devout Christians. His mother, Maudie Sue Yates-Khalifah, had him in church as often as she could. Aaron's father had left when his son was only two years old, as divulged by Tech in his 2013 song "Meant to Happen". Aaron's religious beliefs were further skewed when his mother married a Muslim when he was 12. However, the only custom his stepfather truly imposed on the Yates was the absence of pork and the celebration of Christmas, which had to be celebrated at another family member's home. Music was deep seeded into Aaron's way of life since the beginning. Since his family were such devout Christians, gospel was prominent in the house, and Aaron's Muslim father was also a large fan of Marvin Gaye and the Temptations, and his mother of Shirley Caesar. Dontez gained an appreciation of rap from his Uncle Ike and his neighbors, who introduced Tech to the dirty rapper Blowfly. Aaron has also expressed his love for acts like Public Enemy. His passion for music began to expand even further in school. He beatboxed in school for other people's raps until he was asked by a chick to start rapping himself. Being the shy kid, he would give his raps to other kids, but they were always fucking it up, so Tech eventually began to take the limelight himself. The hobby turned into a career when he won a rap contest in the late days of high school, and gained the opportunity to open for EPMD and Gaume at the Kemper Arena in 1989. Unfortunately, the event fell on the day of his graduation ceremony. Making the choice to skip the ceremony to do rap was the defining moment in his demeanor, and it made him certain that rap was what he was destined to do. He approached local rapper Black Walt and wanted to work with him. Black Walt was skeptical, but after hearing Tech, he agreed. Everyone in Walt's clique had names of guns, so Black grabbed a Smith & Wesson catalog and began suggesting names. Aaron wasn't really feeling any of the names, and then, when they got to the end of the magazine, Walt flips over onto the back cover and sees the TEC-9 in all its glory. The weapon resonates with Tech because the quick rapid-fire of the gun is similar to the breakneck speed at which Tech delivers his verses. He later applied a deeper meaning to the name, saying that 'Tech' is short for technique and '9' is the number of completion. So Tech N9ne is 'the complete technique of rhyme'. Early in his career, his stepfather pressured him to quit rap because he couldn't see how Tech was different than any other artist. Tech began to up his theatrics. His colleague Brian "B'zle" Dennis encouraged Tech to paint his face and Aaron also dyed his hair red. In the late 1990s, he would begin to spike it, as well as occasionally wearing scrubs or priest robes on stage, likening himself to a carnival clown. In the 2004 documentary T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience, he shared a story about when he visited a carnival as a child and met a clown, and the "way Tech began to frequently join groups, such as the Regime, Black Mafia, and the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains. In 1991, Tech began to collaborate with producer IcyRoc Kravyn and together they founded the rap group Nnutthowze, along with fellow rappers Dynomack, Phlaque the Grimstress, Agginy, and Zkierdcrow. The group name came from a line of the nut house scene in the 1981 Cheech and Chong movie Nice Dreams. It's an acronym for "New Narcotical UnTameable Techniques". The name's dialpad corresponds to 6688846993, a number which is found referenced in many of Tech's verses. The group began to work on a project called Welcome to the Asylum, but it was never released. Much of the music focused on dark and gory scenarios. IcyRoc used his own connections to get himself, Tech, Phlaque, and Agginy a deal with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis of Perspective Records. The deal was officially certified in 1993 and the four flew out to Los Angeles. In spite of this, the label quickly became concerned with the direction of Tech's career and his public image. On his image, Perspective Records member Sean Tyler had this to say: "is like Slipknot meets Marilyn Manson meets the Insane Clown Posse meets Ice Cube." After being sent home to Kansas City, Tech ran into childhood friend Don Juan, who had become a rapper and a producer and was signed with Midwestside Records. It was Don Juan who gave Tech the beat for his first big single, "Mitch Bade", mitch bade being a spoonerism of bitch made. Tech put his homeboy Bakarii on the track and the song went far. In 1996, Don Juan went out to L.A. and gave the Mitch Bade ''CD to LeMona Wheaton, and she gave it to legendary producer QDIII, son of music icon Quincy Jones. Soon after, Tech landed a deal with Qwest Records. He went straight to work on his debut album ''Be Warned. At the same time in 1997, Tech released two more singles on 1 12" vinyl, Big Bad Wolf/Soul Searchin', the former produced by King Tech and the latter by DJ Revolution. The remix of "Big Bad Wolf" on the 12" featured verses by Jurassic 5. Tech later used the connections from these singles to appear on the "The Anthem" (1999) on Sway & King Tech's This or That, which also featured Eminem, RZA, Xzibit, Chino XL, KRS-One, Kool G Rap, Jayo Felony, and Pharoahe Monch. On his way back to Kansas City, Tech met Roger Troutman at a show and immediately jumped for a collaboration, feeling it was a perfect fit for Be Warned. They got together in Kansas City and recorded "Twisted". With the album completed in 1998, Tech sent it off to the label. They were not impressed and found it too wicked and that it gave off a demonic vibe. Be Warned got shelved and Tech lost access to the songs. Tech hit another tier of success in his career, however, when his single with the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains "Let's Get Fucked Up" got massive radio success all across the Midwest. Album sales for It's On Now (Summer Edition) skyrocketed above standards the group expected to reach. The rest of 1999 was spent with Midwestside Records forming Tech's first album, The Calm before the Storm. The project dropped on 9 Nov. 1999 and featured the return of "Mitch Bade", a track also found on the soundtrack of Gang Related "Questions", and the Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force inspired "Planet Rock". The original 1982 hit "Planet Rock" had significance to Tech, as it reminded him of the skating rinks he visited often in his youth. His last venture with Midwestside was The Worst, his 12 Sept. 2000 effort that hosted 17 tracks of hard gangsta rap over Don Juan made beats and a lot of features, from Rock Money to Charmelle Cofield to da Hooligans and Rock Money. The album was also the first to feature the energetic 14-second "Stamina", which Tech still uses to open his concert shows to this day. A remixed version of Planet Rock was also on the album, rechristened "Planet Rock 2K". In the midst of all of Tech N9ne's record issues, what with being committed to Qwest and Midwestside and with Sway & King Tech, Aaron saw the best course of action in Kansas City furniture businessman Travis O'Guin, who had wanted to get into the music business. Together, they founded the record label Strange Music, named in honor of the Doors, whose two biggest singles are "People are Strange" and "Strange Days". With Tech free of all his contractual obligations, he was free to work on his first Strange Music project, which he called Anghellic. The theme explored someone with good morals who still ends up doing bad things with is self-explanatory through name and a highly relatable concept. The tracklist was split into Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, which discussed the really dark, the down-to-earth and day-to-day issues, and the joys of life, respectively. While in Los Angeles recording Anghellic, a demo CD fell into the hands of Violet Brown. She fell in love with the project and passed it on Dave Weiner, who at the time was running JCOR Records, distributed through Interscope. JCOR and Strange Music made a 50/50 deal for the album. The album featured another version of Planet Rock ("P.R. 2K1"), the ever-popular "Stamina", the ode to his family "This Ring", the tale of the "Psycho Bitch", and the resurfacing of the Roger Troutman collaboration "Twisted". The project hit stores 28 Aug. 2001. JCOR estimated first week sales at 7800. Instead, Anghellic garnered 34300 sales off the bat. As Tech began to gain attention, fans began to criticize his increasingly extreme image. Some hypothesized that he was a devil worshipper because of the way he paints his face and dyes his hair in tandem with his gory imagery. Instead of taking the album for what it was, listeners began to only focus on the profane aspects of the music and completely ignore the angelic parts of the albums. Despite mainstream artists like Missy Elliot, Eminem, and Busta Rhymes dressing up weirdly and speaking vivid verses, Tech received an unprecedented amount of backlash. JCOR wanted to do a music video for "It's Alive" to promote Anghellic even further, saying they would have a $100,000 budget to the video. Then, days before the L.A. shoot, they inform Strange Music that the video would be more bland than anticipated. Violet Brown got Busta Rhymes to agree to go to the set, Kottonmouth Kings agreed to jump in, and Cypress Hill and D12 said they'd do it for free. The studio was wanting their half in advance in exchange for shooting the video. Unbeknownst to Tech N9ne and Travis, JCOR was refusing to deposit for the shoot and the video kept getting postponed. When Travis called JCOR, they told him that they weren't going to get the money because 8Ball & MJG wanted it to shoot a video with Puffy. The first thing Travis did was drive all the way to Kansas City, pick up a few things, and then go straight to New York City to get Strange Music out of the venture deal. Dave Weiner also was relinquished from JCOR, so he and former Priority Records CEO Mark Cerami formed MSC Entertainment. Strange Music formed a 50/50 deal with MSC, and with that out of the way, it was time for Tech to get back into the studio, this time for Absolute Power. The album featured D12 minus Eminem on the song "She Devil", the club hit "I'm a Playa", a 57 RDV's collaboration on "Constantly Dirty", and the fuck-you hits of "The Industry Is Punks" and "Yada, Yada, Yada". The album also came with a Bonus DVD and seven extra songs. When it came to release Absolute Power, however, things once again got tricky. Back at Midwestside Records, record producer Diamond was mad that he wasn't making money off of Tech N9ne. Aaron eventually got tired of Diamond talking trash and Strange Music allowed him to put out his own Tech N9ne album, full of music that was previously unreleased. The only condition was that the album shouldn't be released on the same day as Absolute Power, which dropped 24 Sept. 2002. Diamond claimed he was going to drop it three months ahead of the project. Instead, it started hitting stores that mid-September. Named Celcius, the cover depicts Tech with diamonds and Porsches, a vain image very different that the one Tech would ever try to convey. Despite the album releases, Absolute Power ''had sold 100,000 copies. "Slacker" was the first music video Tech N9ne ever made, but it did poorly on the radio and on MTV. The choice was do another video or do a commercial. The commercials began debuting, and they depicted Tech N9ne wearing face paint reading F.T.I., telling the viewers about how the industry fucks over the talented, and he then tells everyone to go and download ''Absolute Power for free. Interestingly enough, album sales tripled even though everyone was told to download it for no charge. Today, the LP has sold over 358,000 copies. The currency generated from Absolute Power led Tech to be able to promote his concerts to new levels. He was able to perform with Jay-Z, Hoobastank, and 311 on the 2002 Sprite Liquid Mix Tour. Strange Music was quick to realize that the stage show is one of the most important aspects of music. And many artists have been quick to say that Tech N9ne's stage show is the best of any rapper and most assuredly one of the best in the history of music. In an interview with Shady XM, Joe Budden had this to say: “One of the better performances I have ever seen in hip-hop would be from a gentleman by the name of Tech N9ne of Strange Music…All this stuff you speak I only bring up Tech N9ne because in 2008, in 2007, in 2009, that’s where all the mosh pit hit was happening…it was lit… now that style of show seems to be commercialized.” -Joe Budden, April 2017 Tech started touring heavily between 2003 and 2005, doing 93 shows in 2003 alone. Strange Music released the soundtrack for Beef, which was primarily a compilation of gangsta music, but out of it came an original song: "Beef". Aaron relays that beef stands for bitter emotions, envy, and fear. Throughout the course of his entire career, he has remained neutral and strayed away from beef. Also in 2003 was the blossoming of the relationship between Tech N9ne and the Insane Clown Posse. That September, Tech went on the Wicked Wonka Tour with ICP, Kottonmouth Kings, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. At the time, N9na hadn't really known much about the ICP fans, called Juggalos, and had not listened to many Insane Clown Posse songs. However, the effect Psychopathic Records would now have on Strange Music is surprising. The first show in Cleveland, OH was almost immediately a disaster. Juggalos at the front of the crowd turned their backs on Tech when he went on. But then he performed "Stamina". "Stamina I'll be damn if I'll ever be Took away by the demons I'll never be Weather the weather when I bust a rhythm I come with the heater, cleverly Nigga, nothin' will never be So killa, flowzilla, gorilla If flow was a felony I'd be in a line hella doin' time For the (Click, click) TECH N9NE!" -"Stamina" For the rest of the night, the backs of the Juggalos started rotating around and partying with the Strangers. Tech also was inspired by ICP to give his diehard fans a nickname as well, thus they were christened as Techn9cians, alluding to his technical and precise flow, as well as his name. Tech N9ne has been performing at the Gathering of the Juggalos ever year since 2004. In 2004, Tech began to release other artist's projects on his label. Skatterman & Snug Brim released their album Urban Legendz and Kutt Calhoun released B.L.E.V.E.. Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko features can be found on both albums. 2004 also saw the release of the documentary T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience. As 2005 rolled in, Yates began piecing together his newest LP, Everready. Instead of investing in that fully right off the back, Strange gained rights back to previously unreleased songs and released them as the compilation Vintage Tech. The mix holds classics like "Mitch Bade" and "I'm a Playa" as well as insightful songs like "Freaky", "My Own Hell", and the pop-infused "Strange". After a near-death experience while on tour in 2005, Tech came back into the recording booth with a different view of life, making Everready Religion ''his most diverse album up to that point. E-40, Brotha Lynch Hung, and Dalima were among the features on the LP, released 7 Nov. 2006. The lead single "Caribou Lou" reached RIAA Gold in 2013 and Platinum in 2017. Don P also used the album as an opportunity to show off some new talent. The deluxe edition of the album features songs by Critical Bill, Skatterman & Snug Brim, Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Project: Deadman, and K.A.B.O.S.H. What is truly significant about ''Everready is the emergence of Tech's alter egos. Aaron explored the varied sides of his demeanor and categorized them as such. The King is his narcissistic side, where all the partying takes place. The Clown is his dark and contemplative side. The G is the one who has to balance family and fame in his palms and hustle in the streets and is the most relatable of the characters. Once again, many people criticized this personification of Tech's personality as sinister and found it demonic. Taking a step back, the Killa Clown took a wider approach and came up with an idea for a collaborative series of albums he named "Tech N9ne Collabos". The first installation in the series was Misery Loves Kompany, released 17 Jul. 2007 while he was doing the Everready Tour 2007. Only three songs were completely Tech N9ne. While T-Nutty, Prozak, and Yukmouth all had verses on the CP, the project is perhaps best known for "Midwest Choppers", a six minute track featuring D-Loc, Dalima, and Krizz Kaliko, wherein the troupe shows off their ability to rap incredibly fast. The chopper style of rap, popularized by Twista and Bone Thugs, is comprised of fast rapping with precise pronunciation. After its release, Tech immediately did shows with Kottonmouth Kings, doing over thirty shows under the title of the Strange Noize Tour 2008. N9na went on tour again with Ill Bill and Paul Wall for the Fire & Ice Tour 2008 after finishing recording for Killer. The 2-Disc and 32 track LP pays homage to Michael Jackson's Thriller. While Michael is in his sweet white suit on his side, Tech appears in his straitjacket giving you the same look. Ice Cube, Kottonmouth Kings, and (hed) p.e. were features on the album, released 1 Jul. 2008. While there were many party songs on the album, the crazy-girl-beware tale made a sequel with "Psycho Bitch II". The LP received high ratings from all major rap magazines and websites but it still fell much lower than the label would have expected. Aaron later stated that he was extremely frustrated at that point and he felt like he wanted to retire from rap at that point. That October brought the Strictly Strange Tour 2008. Forty plus shows played exclusively by the complete Strange Music roster went across the US. An exclusive compilation tour CD was released as Strictly Strange Tour | 08 ''and is still very hard to get a hold of. Shortly after the beginning of the tour, Tech N9ne was certified as the #1 Independent Rapper in the World. Strange returned to the Chapman Recording Studio in early 2009 to begin recording on the second part of the Collabos series ''Sickology 101. Originally titled with the subheading The Study of Being Sick, it was removed during creation. The CP follows a loose plot, wherein different rappers teach the wannabes how to rap. While Chino XL, Crooked I, and Potluck all have features, one of the more notable tracks is again a fast one. Not any fast one, but a sequel to the one from Misery Loves Kompany. "Midwest Choppers 2" features K-Dean and Krayziebone, and Tech's verse here is cited by many to be his fastest, where he clocks in at rapping 9.4 syllables per second. The album also featured a series of skits that satired the state of the industry, voiced on his single "Red Nose", where he likens himself to Rudolph in the way that he is shunned for his differences from the typical mainstream artist. Sickology 101 dropped on 28 Apr. 2009 while Tech was on the Hostile Takeover Tour. He was then invited that summer to perform on the main stage of Rock the Bells, playing alongside Nas, Damien Marley, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, House of Pain, Raekwon, and, ironically enough, EPMD. The act that Tech N9ne was opened for was now playing alongside the man himself. Still frustrated by his place in the world of hip-hop and by the now-worsening condition of his mother, Tech vented on an LP themed with darker concepts. K.O.D., which stands for King of Darkness, was sold to the public 26 Oct. 2009. Distraught by the thought of a God that would allow his mother, a devout Christian, to be as sick as she was, religious beliefs that represented that of a theist were present on the album. The title track of the album told a tale of a world where Tech N9ne played as a dictator that controls every facet of the population. The chorus of the song was vocalized by Mackenzie O'Guin, Travis' daughter, who at the time was only nine years old. The K.O.D. Tour 2009 followed in suit, and then came the Strange Days Tour. Early 2010 saw the rapper's debut EP The Lost Scripts of K.O.D., released 30 Mar. 2010. Tracks that didn't make it K.O.D. and beats that never got verses written for pieced together the five-track project. "Last Sad Song" detailed Tech's opinion about K.O.D.. He felt the album had such a dark and depressing tone that it has been affecting his demeanor to write in such a melancholy tone. Feeling like the darkness was closing in, Donny Quest felt that a new Collabos project was overdue. The Gates Mixed Plate proved to be a party album dedicated to Kansas City. Glasses Malone and Jay Rock saw features on the lighthearted album created to lighten the mood. Released 27 Jul. 2010, the album marked over 2 million albums SoundScanned under the Tech N9ne name. The Independent Grind Tour 2010 filled the schedule for the end of 2010, spotlighting other artists like E-40 and Big Scoob. Being on tour constantly didn't stop music from shining through. Seepage, another EP in the K.O.D. Collection, was released 25 Oct. 2010 despite Tech's wish to stray away from increasingly dark music. Amidst recording for his new LP, Tech was contacted by XXL rap magazine. DJ Whoo Kid & DJ Scream hosted a mixtape released for free online. After confusion surrounding the legality of one of the track's releasing, "Hard Liquor", a track produced by Dr. Dre, was removed, replaced with a Royce da 5'9" collaboration, released in physical condition on 1 Feb. 2011. Recording began on Tech's twelfth album All 6's and 7's. The LP's name is equivalent to the name of Anghellic ''and focuses on the conflicting aspects of everyone's personality. Everyone can be good and bad, angel and demon, 6's and 7's, and anghellic. During recording, Lil Wayne was serving a sentence in Rikers Island Correctional and stated in an interview that he wished to work with Tech N9ne and Andre 3000 upon his release. Just hearing the name ''Tech N9ne come out of Lil Wayne's mouth generated a lot of noise and attention towards the Kansas City citizen. Lil Wayne was featured along with T-Pain on the track "Fuck Food" in exchange for Tech supplying a verse on "Interlude" off Tha Carter IV. The studio album also saw the return of the Choppers series. "Worldwide Choppers" featured artists from everywhere on the planet, from Turkey to Chicago and from Kansas City to Denmark. After it hit stores on 7 Jun. 2011, Strange embarked on the All 6's and 7's Tour for a whopping 62 shows. At this point, Strange Music had became an empire. Record producer Seven became the in-house producer for Strange Music after producing a plethora of albums beforehand. Seven was among the producers employed for the fourth project in the Collabos series Welcome to Strangeland. The CP only included artists signed to the Strange Music artists. Azmo's 40th birthday, 8 Nov. 2011, served as the release date for the project. The ever-evolving rapper went for a short excursion to pick up the locales missed in the All 6's and 7's Tour. Six weeks of touring yielded the Lost Cities Tour. The Strange Music regime was still at a high point. The merchandise game continued to expand. Tech notices that a hat saying 'Tech N9ne is #1' serves as a walking billboard to produce your music. The label moved out of Chapman Recordings and various other studios across the Midwest and built their own headquarters in Kansas City. In the years since, they have added buildings and amphitheaters and soundstages and factories. In 2017, it was revealed via Travis O'Guin's Instagram that they have purchased an office in Los Angeles, within view of the Staples Center. The phrase "it goes up" was being heard more and more in Strangeland. Tech N9ne continued to rise on the charts with no sign of it declining. KLUSTERFUK, an EP recorded in six days, was released 13 Mar. 2012 and was produced entirely by the newest Strange Music signee ¡MAYDAY!. The Hostile Takeover Tour 2012 filled out the schedule for the first half of 2012, and a Canadian one for much of the second half. Machine Gun Kelly was brought along on tour with other Strange Music artists. At the time, Travis had already put strict rules in place for anyone on tour with the Strange Music crew. The Wall Street Journal covered the story in 2015. Some rules are understandable and some sound completely ludicrous. Smoking is not permitted in the bus unless you are in the jump seat and travelling faster than 55mph. Stripping naked is prohibited unless you are on fire. Artists cannot ask fans for cigarettes nor can they light the stage on fire. While that sounds self-explanatory, Travis O'Guin insists that all those rules were set in place because someone had done something stupid and inspired the codes of conduct. All codes were in place when Tech went on the Independent Powerhouse Tour 2013. Two other EPs, seeing the light of day 18 Sept. and 30 Oct. 2012 respectively, were released to much fanfare. E.B.A.H., another anghellic like play on the bipolar extremes of people's personality, stands for Evil Brain, Angel Heart and debuted at #1 on the Rap EP chart. Boiling Point, the last chapter in the K.O.D. Collection, took another dark turn. In an interview with HipHopDX, Tech N9ne revealed the story behind the details of the projects in the K.O.D. Collection. "Well, if you pay attention to K.O.D. – my darkness was so thick it was dripping from my hands... I came back and did Seepage. It was seeping from my eye. A black tar-like darkness, thick as hell darkness, that’s within me. So ever since Seepage, I accepted my darkness. A lot of things have been happening since then... that I'm not happy with. I feel like I’m at my Boiling Point. This dark, thick, tar substance has boiled over on to my face from the inside of me. It reached the top, through my pores, and now you have the album cover – Boiling Point." -Tech N9ne, 15 Oct. 2012 After finishing another tirade of touring, the Killa Clown returned to Strangeland Studios to record a little bit of different music. Everywhere on 30 Jul. 2013, Something Else was produced mostly by Seven and held collaborations with the Doors, Trae the Truth, CeeLo Green, Big K.R.I.T., Wiz Khalifa, and B.o.B.. "Fragile", an airy song with a guest verse from Kendrick Lamar, blew up the charts and saw Tech N9ne on MTV and Jimmy Kimmel. It was certified Gold in 2016. The album was seperated into three sections: Fire, Water, and Earth, much like Anghellic. Fire included the more mad music, Water mentioned the lyrical skill and contained the most fluid flow of the album, and Earth featured more relatable and down-to-earth themes. The album launched N9na further up without incident. The Something Else Tour headlined in both the United States and Canada. In the Thank You notes in the credits of Something Else, Tech wrote that he could only wonder what doors that that album was going to open. That doorway lead Tech N9ne to Ross Robinson. Therapy: Sessions with Ross Robinson was Tech's sixth EP. The seven part tracklist was put into circulation on 5 Nov. 2013 and played on the rap rock theme that Tech had sometimes played on in his music and took it a step further. It served as an appetizer for a K.A.B.O.S.H. album, a rap rock band consisting of Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, and the Dirty Wormz. The project was released to much critical acclaim and held verses from Wrekonize and Bernz and instrumentals from Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit. An excessive amount of solo work in 2012 and 2013 attributed to Tech's 2014 release. The fifth chapter in the Collabos series was titled as Strangeulation, delivered to the public 6 May 2014. The CP is comprised of features exclusive to the Strange Music roster, excluding artists that have previously collaborated with artists, like Tyler Lyon, Mackenzie O'Guin, and Kendall Morgan. The project was themed around the beat of "Ready for the Meat Wagon", a 1997 song that was one of Tech N9ne's first with rap group Pure Dope, and originally produced by Seven. The beat was redone and sent to all the artists on the label. The beat plays over four cyphers that are spread across the album. The Independent Grind 2014 kicked off and Tech was invited to Paid Dues for the first time, and a week later, Strangeulation fell out of the Billboard Top 5. Tech returned to the studio with a whole new attitude. Maudie Sue Yates-Khalifah, his lovely Christian mother, passed away on 6 Jun. 2014. N9na feels as if he can feel his mother's spirit with him and speaks of heavenly tones across his 4 May 2015 LP Special Effects. The project, produced almost entirely by Seven, has laid the example for genre fusion within hip-hop. "Lacrimosa" is a gospel mix, "Shroud" is heavy metal, "Give It All" is boom bap, "Burn It Down" is pop rap, and "Roadkill" is dubstep. N4 produced and B.o.B. featured "Hood Go Crazy" was certified gold in 2016. The album also contains another sequel in the Choppers ''series and the end of the ''Psycho Bitch Trilogy. "Psycho Bitch III" this time features Hopsin and "Speedom (WWC2)" shows that Tech's hard work has paid off, as evidenced when you hear the long awaited verse by Eminem. The LP maintained a high position on the charts for fourteen weeks and the Special Effects Tour kicked off, bringing along Zuse, king810, and Chris Webby. A Canadian tour was also launched in 2015 that fall when Tech released another album. Strangeulation, Vol. II is the sixth entry in the Collabos series. What sets it apart from Strangeulation is that the cyphers this time are rapped over classic Tech N9ne beats, including "Come Gangsta (2006)", "Whip It" (2008), "Midwest Choppers" (2007), and "He's a Mental Giant' (2011). Tech himself rapped over "Wavy" (2013), a CES Cru beat. The CP also hosted the first appearances of Mackenzie Nicole and Darrein Safron. After its 20 Nov. 2015 release, it held a #1 position on the Independent Billboard Charts for three weeks. Its release prompted the start of the Special Effects Tour 2.0, setting the stage for early 2016. The success just kept going up and up. Tech felt like he needed to pressure himself to create the best album possible. He named the LP The Storm, a reference to his 1999 debut album The Calm before the Storm. The project was split into three sections: Kingdom, Clown Town, and G. Zone. The areas play on the alter egos he had created on Everready Religion ''ten years prior. The King's territory contains narcissistic and braggadocious music. Anything within the Clown's reign has the darkest aspects of all. The streets of G. Zone are a throwback to the gangsta rap style Tech had relied on from his origins up until 2006 and 2007. Launching on 9 Dec. 2016, it was proceeded and succeeded by tours, named the Calm before the Storm Tour 2016 and the Strictly Strange Tour 2017, respectively. On the tour, he wears three different outfits representing all three egos. Wanting a cool-down and a stress-less release, production of the seventh Collabos album commenced as soon as ''The Storm was completed. Dominion was unleashed on 7 Apr. 2017. The fun twist applied on the album was in the production credits. Tracks were made by Strange Music artists and the beats were sent out to Tech, truly testing his versatility. It reached #9 on the US Independent Albums and contained tracks from the newest signees, wherein Darrein Safron collaborated with Rittz and Mackenzie Nicole acheived duets with both Krizz Kaliko and Ryan Bradley of AboveWaves. After 68 shows, Tech N9ne returned to the studio. Nicknames Tech N9ne has been everywhere over the past few decades and met many different people from all walks of life, so its only natural that he has an equally diverse set of nicknames. * Tecca Nina * The King * The Clown * The G * Donny Punani (or Don P) * Donny Quest (or Don Q) * The Killa Clown * Azmo * Sinister Tech * Amerikilla * The #1 Independent Rapper in the World Discography LP- Long Play Studio Album EP- Extended Play MIX- Mixtape CP- Collabos Project RE-I- Reissue COMP- Compilation